Biography

Emanuel Feuermann was born on November 22, 1902 in Kolomyja, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine]. He died on May 25, 1942 in New York City, New York, USA.

One of the greatest cellists (some would say *the* greatest) cellist of the early twentieth century; the closest rival to the legendary Pablo Casals. He died during minor surgery at the age of thirty-nine.

One of his great specialties was the Richard Strauss symphonic poem "Don Quixote", based on Cervantes's novel, in which the "role" of Don Quixote is assigned to the solo cello. He performed it with several great conductors, including Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini. The Toscanini performance was live, and has been released on CD, and the Ormandy performance was a studio recording.

Arturo Toscanini and Eugene Ormandy were two of Feuermann's pallbearers. Toscanini broke down crying during the funeral and shouted "This is murder!".